Caesars Entertainment Plans to Build Casino in Schoolfield

Caesars Entertainment has revealed its plan to open a casino resort at a site located in the Schoolfield neighbourhood of Danville, Virginia. The proposed resort will house a casino, a hotel, a conference center, a live-entertainment venue, restaurants and bars, a pool and a spa, and parking lots.

The site is home to the old Dan River Mills and is owned by the Danville Industrial Development Authority. In December 2019, the city began working on a comprehensive plan to redevelop the Schoolfield site and therefore issued a request for proposals to design the first casino in the city. The City Council considered four casinos for the project in March 2020 and finally picked Caesars Entertainment in June 2020.

According to the company’s vice president of development David Rittvo, the decision overbuilding the casino will be finalized based on the results of a referendum on November 3, 2020. Once approved, the Caesars Entertainment will pay $15M to the city and $5M to the Schoolfield site.

Responding to City Manager Ken Larking’s views on the site’s historical significance, Rittvo assured that they would try their best to preserve the historic buildings.

Danville’s Economic Development Director Corrie Teague Bobe, believes that the site would have enough space for future development projects even after the construction of the resort.

The resort is estimated at more than $400M and is expected to go live in 2023. Caesars Entertainment’s CEO Tony Rodio said that this first-class casino resort would create thousands of jobs and generate millions in annual revenue from gaming taxes to the city.